25th June 1999 Archive
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Register Thought for the Day It's time IBM bought AMD
AMD cannot produce enough K7s or K6-IIIs to turn its position round, even given the most optimistic take on it. But IBM, that fab company, could. So why doesn't Big Blue just buy AMD and put it out of its misery? And is the Alereon a socketed low-cost K7? They've got one, we hear... IBM and AMD have talked to each other about …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 07:44
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Share trading is the US way of life
RegisterSite of the Day Dr Albert Yu from Intel sets the lead...
You guys out there in Register Readerland ever go to INSIDERTRADER.COM? This is a super site, because it gives you the low down on how officers and execs feel about their own company in trading terms. If you go there and bung in the INTC ticker, it will give you a free 13 month insider history. This is what we have for Dr Albert …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 08:16
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Jackson's Chin not Jackson's Chin, Chin says
Microsoft Trial So he reads our Web site, anyway
How extraordinary. In our story yesterday, we suggested that Judge Jackson might be benefiting from the clerkship of Andrew Chin, since that is what Chin's personal web site says. However, Chin has contacted us to say that "I am not the law clerk Judge Jackson has officially assigned to the [Microsoft] case", although he is one …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 08:31
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Microsoft OS/2, the picture proof
Captured in full colour
A few days ago, there was a little bit of debate on our message forum, with one reader amazed that Microsoft was involved in developing OS/2. So we looked into our collection of computing artefacts, and this morning snapped the mug we were given when we attended a Developer's Conference back in those heady days of 1987. Here it …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 08:52
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Rambus announcement to cost DRAM manufacturers
A year ago Intel's backing means companies forced to pay royalties to Rambus
June 24th 1998 -- a year ago Intel has pressed ahead with its plans for Rambus DRAMs but the move means memory manufacturers will be forced to pay royalties to the firm. Rambus said that it has started to test working DRAM products and that LG Semicon as well as Toshiba are also testing the technology. Speeds of Rambus DRAMs can …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 08:57
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Intel a gogo with 810 Cayman mobo
Now surely, no probbo with the chipset
Chip manufacturer Intel makes motherboards too, but hides their light under a bushel. Now it has introduced its CA-810 mobo, a board that is aimed at the Value PC segment, the company says. The name is real groovy, isn't it? Intel should stick to its codenames for products -- in this mobo's case -- Cayman. The MicroATX mobo uses …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 09:04
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European working practices are barrier to investment
Oracle’s Ellison won’t be hiring any French staff, by the sound of things
Working practice in France is coming under fire from all directions. Speaking in London, Larry Ellison, Oracle's CEO, says that the shortened working week in France puts the country at an economic disadvantage. Ellison commented that Germany had lowered corporate tax in a bid to create jobs. With the same aim in mind, the French …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 10:12
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UK directors lack Web awareness
Everyone thinks it’s important, but no one knows what to do with it
Half of UK IT directors are ill equipped to exploit the Internet and regard themselves as underskilled when it comes to the net economy, according to research commissioned by the Sun/Netscape alliance. The outlook is even bleaker when company directors in general were quizzed on their relationship with the Web - a worrying two …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 10:25
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Silent PC to sneak up on channel
Noise annoys, but will users cough up for sound of silence
The maker of the silent PC is looking to break into the UK via the channel this year. Silent Systems, a US-based vendor, claims to have brought the noise level of computers down to 24.6 decibels. The average PC makes around 42 decibels, it says. Resellers can net around 20 per cent margin on the parts needed to convert a PC to …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 11:07
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Cybercafe domain war all a storm in a coffee cup
More tea, vicar?
An uneasy truce has broken out in the coffee shop cybersquatting war. On Monday, easyJet entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou opened his 500-PC, Nescafe-serving easyEverything cybercafe in London -- the first in a chain of "Internet stores." While Haji-Ioannou possessed the all-important easyeverything.com domain, he didn't own …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 11:13
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MS gives advice on preparing for W2K
Upgrade to NT4 first – of course
Windows 2000 will be released this year and system builders should pre-install Windows NT Workstation 4.0 prepare customers for the launch, Microsoft said today. Matti Suokko, Microsoft OEM product manager for Windows, said Windows 2000 Professional, the business software replacement for Windows NT, was on track for release …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 11:37
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Evesham signs up for safe online shopping scheme
Consumer Association blazes trail for ecommerce growth
Midlands-based Evesham Micro has become one of the first PC suppliers to join the Which? Web Trader scheme. The scheme was launched earlier this week and lays down a comprehensive set of conditions for Web trading, including pricing, payment, security, advertising, contracts, refunds, guarantees and complaints handling. The Web …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 11:44
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CompUSA swings axe on overheads
PC prices to blame
The PC price wars have claimed another victim in the form of America’s biggest computer retailer. CompUSA is introducing swingeing cuts to its overheads, in response to tumbling PC prices and margins. The lights go out on 14 of its 200 stores, and up to 1,500 staff (from a workforce of 21,000) get the chop. This will cost it $40 …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 11:48
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Murky record of MS ‘character’ witness
MS on Trial And how the attorneys tried to suppress those embarrassing clippings
Microsoft made a bad choice in the trial when Bill Gates phoned Gordon Eubanks, former Symantec CEO, and asked him to be a rebuttal witness. It is axiomatic in these matters that a corporate character witness should have a whiter-than-white record, but Eubanks failed miserably to meet any such criterion. His testimony has helped …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 12:00
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Scots Parliament opening to be Webcast by MSN
Where do you want to go in Scotland today
MSN is going to host the Webcast of the opening of the Scottish Parliament live on 1 July on the new assembly's Web site. Microsoft is understandably proud of this achievement. With all the rumblings in Scotland about the cost of the Parliament, it is indeed a monumental feat to extract yet more money from the Scots to finance …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 12:26
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Email costs BG £101,000
Used as evidence in libel case
Watch what you say in your company emails - it could get you sued, as gas industry heavyweight BG found to its cost. Andrew Duffield has successfully sued his ex-employer, BG, for defamation of character in an email circulated to all employees. He was awarded £101,000 compensation in the High Court this week. Duffield was the …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 12:27
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NetBenefit goes a-gunning for the URL cowboys
Time to round up a posse on the WWW wild frontier
Domain name registrar NetBenefit has said it is prepared to "pursue negative campaigns" against its competitors unless they get their houses in order and start delivering transparent pricing information to consumers. The thinly veiled threat was delivered as NetBenefit warned businesses to be aware of the hidden costs of …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 12:36
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Y2K bug sinks Third World trade
Islamic calendar may be solution
Call it foresight or fundamentalism -- Iran has stored its Y2K problem for another 580 years by using the Islamic calendar in all its computer systems. Third world countries that think they are in the twentieth century are not so fortunate. They face a disastrous shortfall in customs duties next year, because their computer …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 12:38
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MS in 11th hour trial ‘exposure’ of AOL BeOS PC plan
MS on Trial Defence team unearths key news report - on MSNBC
AOL's plan to produce an 'AOL PC' that would allow it to break free of Microsoft is alive and well, according to a last-minute grenade hurled by Microsoft's attorneys as trial testimony finished yesterday. Hostile witness David Colburn had earlier said the AOL PC plan had been largely abandoned, but Microsoft attorney Michael …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 12:40
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Former Philips division debuts digital tape back-up drive
High capacity, low price storage – and we’re not talking MFI wardrobes
One of the youngest vendors at this year's forum is OnStream, a storage company using Advanced Digital Recording (ADR) technology. The US-based company was showing off its tape back-up storage systems that use ADR technology developed by Philips Electronics. OnStream is itself a spin-off of Philips. Its factory and R&D labs are …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 13:53
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Hit me with your hard disk chips
HDD semiconductor sales plunge
Worldwide HDD chip sales went south 12 points last year. And things ain’t going to get any better for the vendors. Their revenues were £4 billion in 1998, against $4.5 billion in 1997. By 2002, the market will only be worth $3 billion, IDC predicts. System-on-chip sales will grow, but most other component sales will fall. The …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 14:01
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MS Encarta ‘facts’ vary, depending on edition
So why is it only this division that doesn't want to piss anybody off?
The Wall Street Journal's researchers have clearly been busy. Careful comparisons of the various international editions of Microsoft Encarta, today's edition reports, show that in numerous cases the 'facts' are different in different editions. That in itself is quite Microsoftish. More so is the quote from Dominique Lempereur, …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 14:20
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BX overclock torches Camino
...'significantly'
So how fast is Camino? We don't know, but we know a man that does. Step forward Thomas Pabst. In his latest uber-review, Dr. Tom compares and contrasts a BX board overclocked to 133 MHz FSB with an equivalent specced Camino. And guess what? BX smokes Camino "significantly". Check out the full review at Tom's Hardware
Business 25 Jun 1999, 14:39
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Integrator Forum wins SB thumbs-up
It's a tough life in the channel
Delegates at this year's Integrator Forum were to be found playing with their balls in the Monte Carlo sunshine. Yes, it's true - system builders and vendors alike were down by the sea indulging in the popular French pastime of Petanque, which is similar to boule, only played with two balls. The Petanque crew formed only a …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 14:45
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Much-maligned BT suffers over ADSL
Opinion: Telco giant jumps through flaming hoops for you - give thanks
I'm going to start a campaign to have an annual holiday in honour of BT. I've already drafted an email to the Queen and the PM and anyone else I can think of who might hold some sway in the matter. A day in June would be good -- because that would coincide with the time BT actually admitted it was going to roll out ADSL in the …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 15:01
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AMD says competition is a good thing
Stating the obvious? Perhaps
Rivalry in the chip market is good for you, AMD told system builders at the Integrator Forum. The chip maker said competition improved product, price and performance. It later talked of its intention to move into other areas of the market such as servers and notebooks, and to target small businesses. Robert Stead, AMD European …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 15:20
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Newsbytes to stop writing routine stories – at last
intro
A treasurable press release arrives from Newsbytes, which we are informed is an IT news service of some kind. It leads in: "Newsbytes.com, the international news service focused on information technology, has shifted its breaking news coverage away from routine corporate announcements to exclusive coverage of the technologies, …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 15:30
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MS proposes three browser ‘ballot’ system for PCs
MS on Trial Got the idea while playing the slots in Vegas
Settlement talks between Microsoft and the Department of Justice would seem to be on again (sort of), and a couple of Microsoft offers have surfaced. They certainly indicate that Microsoft has been getting keener on cutting a deal, but they're clearly not enough to get the DoJ to back off. The offers seem to fall into three …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 15:33
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BT/LocalTel blunder gives away free phone calls
Free calls for some but unsolicited transfer of service for others
Net users are getting free Web access and free phone calls around the clock thanks to administrative blunders by BT and LocalTel. Around 76,000 people have been promised that their accounts will be switched from BT to LocalTel by today so that they can take advantage of toll-free access to the Net during off-peak hours. But one …
Business 25 Jun 1999, 15:55
